Dilithium. You get dilithium ore from a lot of places - the Academy dailies, duty officers,, the Foundry dailies, exploration, STFs and some events (the Mirror incursions are one of the best sources). You can refine 8000 ore per day into the type you actually use.

It's called dilithium. You can earn it by doing Duty Officer missions and dailies - early on you have two easily available, either the lore quiz mission at Starfleet Academy or "Exploring Strange New Worlds" where you need to go explore 3 systems in a nearby star cluster.

You can also earn dilithium during the "scan the blue thingies" event at Starfleet Academy.

The Academy daily that awards Dilithum is the Midterm Exam mission, available from Commander Viala at Starfleet Academy. You also have the Starfleet Academy Event, which involves running around SFA for an hour scanning blue things and turning them in multiples of 30 for Dilithium containers.

One thing I would say is to hang on to any dilithium you do earn. The items available in the dilithium store look expensive for what they are. The way I am approaching dilithium is to either hoard it to buy a Tier 5 escort when I hit maximum level (and I have some way to go there) so I'll have a choice besides the Odyssey, or to save it up for unreplicatable materials (needed for high-end crafting - you can make very good gear sets later on).

Somebody with a bit more experience might be able to give better advice, though!

One thing I would say is to hang on to any dilithium you do earn. The items available in the dilithium store look expensive for what they are. The way I am approaching dilithium is to either hoard it to buy a Tier 5 escort when I hit maximum level (and I have some way to go there) so I'll have a choice besides the Odyssey, or to save it up for unreplicatable materials (needed for high-end crafting - you can make very good gear sets later on).

ya i saw what you mean i just want better ship's, i havent done any crafting yet what kind of stuff can you make on this game?